Malaysia

That’s right, hide and seek with the famous Georgetown street arts! When in Penang, you cannot pass up a chance to not find these innocuous, fanciful painted art works depicting, I would say, the local life. Only that, finding them are really a fun challenge, factor in the afternoon heat and fidgeting with the maps to locate them. We may not be able to find all of it, but we did manage to find a good number of it!

The Boy On A Chair was the challenging of all. Me and the sib were already quarrelling as to where it could be since we were actually already standing on that avenue where it is said to be but we still could not find it. Apparently, a cafe business is already put up around it (smart eh) so it was really difficult finding it.

Tadah! This is that business :))The cafe where the “Boy On A Chair” is located

Some of these painted arts were crowded and so it was really a pain shooting it at a very good angle, also considering the fact that we were standing on a functioning road while trying to take photos! So pardon my misalignment! LOL

Kids On A BikeGiant CatCat and Lucky Cats

For some reasons, below is my favorite of all!

And some more art works…

Bruce Lee? And a flying cat!

Below is supposed to be a little boy with a pet dragon, but somehow the pet dragon maybe has grown its wings, flew and is now still flying in the clouds. =))

Oh!! I think I spoke to soon, here is another favourite of mine!

And the street art is pretty much updated… Minion!

Minion!

That’s about it, what we’ve managed to capture with our blood and sweat lol! Kidding, it was only sweat! =)) Do check my other blog posts for more about Penang. You may find it under Travels > Malaysia. Enjoy! 🙂

If you ask Penang to almost all locals in Singapore, only one word will come out: Food! And of course, that word rings LOUD bells to my ear, lol. So a weekender to this town, we thought, would be a lovely and yummy idea.

An hour away to the very urban Singapore, is an old, small town usually referred to as Pinang. The airport tagged as international is a tiny but orderly one. One can take bus 401 and 401E to Komtar which is the central bus station in the town or take teksi which would cost around 35-40 MYR. We didn’t realize that people can board and get off on any points along the way so we mistakenly alighted at the first stop when a lady hit the stop alarm (we were thinking to go to Snake temple which they say is only one stop away from the airport). Thus, we had to hail a cab to go to town (bus driver should have told us the stop was not there yet when we actually asked and paid for that specific stop to him).

Most alleys and streets are one way so the cab will have to take a bit of a longer route just to get to the destination, ours was our hotel of course: The Inn Residence located at Lebuh Cintra. It is a cheap inn but a very clean and good one (recommended). We didn’t waste any time and right after checking in and leaving our backpacks, we hit the streets to start exploring Penang.

Kimberly Street / Near CintraThe MansionBeachfront at The Mansion

The Mansion seems to be a posh restaurant with a very relaxing beach front. There is a cafe / bar facing the serene beach where people can just spend the day chilling out with friends or family while having some tidbits. We also paid to go on a tour to Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, also called The Blue Mansion who was owned by a powerful Chinese businessman / Nanyang Industrialist / First Class Mandarin. The tour was a bit of a downer for me. When we stop to a specific portion within the house, the guide, rather than just explaining the house per se, also included a long discussion to Chinese cultures and traditions, so we decided to go ahead with the rest of the mansion to take photos but there was actually very limited areas to where you could walk about as some are private rooms and locked doors.

Visiting The Blue Mansion

We continued with our walk and we found that Penang is comprised of many small businesses that are within old houses.

Small EateryFailed Attempt as Master Wong is a no show =))

We also went to The Camera Museum located beside The Purrfect Cat Cafe. We had to pay for the entrance.

Lights. Camera. Action.Black And White

Below are famous photos. I like this area right here.

Pardon my blurry shots… =))

Continuing on with our walk, we made stops to take few photos such as below:

And next, one highlight of this trip personally, is the trip to Penang Hill. Even before, I already wanted to get there to be able to board the monorail train which I usually see in magazines. And because I am a sucker for train rides!

On A Hill

And there were also the Love Locks!

As it was on the way, we decided to go to Kek Lok Si Buddhist Temple. I think they are currently building a new passage way to the temple so for the meantime we had to pass by a very unappealing and dirty covered alleyway going to the top where some stores are also situated.

On our way….

Faith.

Going back to Georgetown….

We stopped by the Clan Jetties which are very old wooden houses on stilts where some still even have their small businesses selling sodas, candies and other tid bits. It was quite nice sauntering through the alleyways and checking what was in store for us.

“Life in Technicolor”

I am also a sucker for jetties…

In addition, we also went to one Penang tourist highlight which is the Georgetown street arts which I will post in a separate blog soon, watch out. 🙂 You may notice that I haven’t included anything about food here, please feel free to browse through the Food Spotting section for specifics about this topic, of course, Penang would not be complete without food. 🙂

I fancy a good ambiance to match good food and drinks but when there is an old or run-down establishment that happens to serve superb food, tested by time and is a guaranteed local favorite, then that’s a real hit. Penang is comprised of strips of old Chinese houses, coffee shops and eateries and while on our way to Penang Hill and starving for breakfast, we were lucky to pass by Yong Pin restaurant. The place was packed when we went it , we were seated outside on the pavement.

It was a struggle to order as most do not really speak English but we were lucky enough to be approached eventually by an auntie that can converse to us. So, we wasted no time and started pointing what we wanted.

Initially, we only ordered from the menu posted outside, we did not opt for the meals menu posted inside as it was written in Chinese.

Something steamed not baked

Eventually, as we were seated, uncles and aunties carrying a woven steamer basket and metal trays started coming in. With them were mouth watering dimsums!!

A feast to my eyes haha!Pork Ribs!

A delicious coffee!

I am a sucker for good dimsum and I must say that the restaurant is a place that I will definitely come back to. All those siu-mai, har-kau are savory, tasty goodness. I loved the chinese sponge cake, the pau are equally good as well. Actually nothing is, not good, lol. So, once I come back to Penang, I will definitely have a dimsum binge again!

Bored, we decided to go shopping in Johor Bahru premium outlets in Malaysia as we miss the feeling of sauntering through shops in USA outlets and getting overwhelmed by uber good prices for most branded items. (Will tackle this definitely in another blog post)

We had a heavy breakfast before we took off in SG so hunger called late in the day, almost dinner time. We passed by this dark but cozy looking resto which was not there during our first visit back in 2012. So we went in.
Knights in shining armor and a dark medieval interior would welcome you in.

We ordered an appetizer to begin with which was the Calamari Rings.

It was served with a thick tomato sauce on the side, with tid bits of fresh tomatoes and it was sweet. I loved the sauce and how the dish was presented.

For the mains, we ordered a Seafood pasta which they said to be one of their bestsellers and Pan Seared Fillet of Salmon which we opted to go together with a Lemon Butter sauce. The latter came in very huge serving. The pasta was normal but the shrimps were cooked succulently.

Hungry that we were, I still ordered for a Chicken and Mushroom pizza which came in thin crispy crust and the sauce was sweet, it was a good tasting one.

And of course, my eating experience would not be complete without my dose of caffeine.

Also, the crew are a bunch of friendly ones, giving good and hospitable service. I would not mind coming back here again for a relaxing and soothing dining experience post shopping and going gaga over bargains haha!